Jill Painter: USC didn’t just fire Lane Kiffin, it FIRED Lane Kiffin

MORE FROM USC

Finally, even USC athletic director Pat Haden could no longer support the circus that is Lane Kiffin.

It took long enough.

The final straw wasn’t a seven-second press conference or mysterious scrapes on the forehead or in-game uniform swaps or that stoic sideline demeanor. Rather, it was another football embarrassment.

USC was drilled 62-41 by Arizona State on Saturday, the second time a Kiffin-coached team allowed 62 points in the last two seasons. Oregon hung 62 points on USC in the Coliseum last year.

“This has been brewing for a while,” Haden said Sunday at a news conference at USC’s John McKay Center. “I haven’t felt particularly good even from the (season-opening) Hawaii game.”

No one else felt particularly good following El Paso. Kiffin ended up with an inexplicable scrape on his face, wore dark sunglasses, lost to Georgia Tech and then denied reports of a locker room brawl.

He’d endured many shennanigans prior to that, but Haden didn’t fire him in the offseason. He should have.

USC fans voiced their displeasure the first chance they could with roaring “Fire Kiffin!” chants after the 10-7 home loss to Washington State, and it took Haden a while to catch up.

In an ill-advised move out of the Mike Garrett athletic director handbook, Haden released a video before the Pac-12 media day in which he said he supported Kiffin and Kiffin wasn’t on the hot seat.

Finally, Haden couldn’t take any of Kiffin’s miscues anymore.

He didn’t just fire him. He FIRED him.

“He battled me,” Haden said. “He really tried to keep his job.”

Thank goodness Haden stood his ground and didn’t let Kiffin worm his way out of trouble once again.

He also said this was brewing for a while, but Haden was sleep-deprived. Midnight firings will do that to you.

Kiffin was pulled off the team bus at LAX in the wee hours Sunday and was canned at the airport. His team — and his bag — went back to USC without him.

This was akin to the Lakers waking up Phil Jackson at midnight to tell him they’d hired Mike D’Antoni.

USC was riding a ticket to nowhere with Kiffin, as it had lost seven of its last 11 games and was 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-12. He seemingly wasn’t on the same page with players, either.

He was not a people person, and one just needed to watch him on the sideline for one game to figure that out.

Players’ stories and Kiffin’s stories often contradicted one another. And finally, Haden no longer was on the same page with his embattled coach.

USC fans finally have what they want — a team without a smug coach. Ed Orgeron and his deep voice and lovable, wild gestures will be walking the sideline now as interim coach.

There’s surely much rejoicing in Tennessee as well, another school Kiffin left in his scandalous wake.

Finally, Haden got on the same page as his fan base, donors and seemingly many players. He put Kiffin on the hot seat and swiftly fired him.

“It’s a gut feeling. We weren’t making the progress I felt we needed to make and that I thought we should be making,” Haden said. “There’s never the perfect time to do these things. I thought it was the right time. That’s my job.”